Sluice
"I’m just one human, if we can’t succeed now, billions will die. Please. I’d sacrifice anything of myself, up to and including my life, if I knew it’d mean the safety of others. That’s always been my mindset. It’s what being a hero is about." Sluice is a veteran member of the League of Salvation. | |relatives = Michael Winters (father), Mary Winters (mother), Jack Frost (half-brother)|home_area = England}} Description Sarah is a British woman in her early thirties. She has a pale complexion, shoulder-length black hair and an athletic figure. As Sluice, she wears an azure full-body supersuit with retractable headgear and translucent yellow goggles. History Sarah discovered her power at an early age. She was involved in an encounter with a bully in a local park, whereupon both fell into a nearby pond. Subconsciously manipulating the water, she was able to escape whilst the boy drowned. Horrified by the event she was afraid to use her power, and coupled with her parents' insistence that she keep the ability a secret meant that it wasn't until her early teens that she began practising to control it. After saving a child from drowning in the same pond that the bully had years ago, she realised that her powers could be used for more than personal amusement. As a teenager, Sarah made friends with a boy named Martin. At a party he attempted to use his hypnotic abilities to force her to undress, but the pair were interrupted before anything could happen and Sarah made sure never to speak to him again. At the age of nineteen, Sarah and her friends were mugged whilst on their way home from a nightclub. She decided that she would use her powers for the greater good and fight crime in her local area, creating a supersuit and identity for herself. Her first supervillain battle came at the end of her first week of crimefighting, against Dinah Mo. Sluice was at a serious disadvantage, and would have been killed had Lionheart not shown up to save the day. As Sluice, she became a frequently-seen hero in the Southwest, although her achievements were average for a superhero at best. As Sarah, she landed a well-paid job at PaperCo, and confided her secret identity to her parents. She also informed a fellow superhero, although this backfired when The Listener showed up in her apartment and attempted to kill her. She learned to be very careful about her identity and began taking every precaution to prevent people from noticing a connection between herself and Sluice. A few months later she clashed with Dinah Mo again, although this time Cannonball was with her. Dinah Mo put up a fierce fight and maintained the upper hand against the two until Sluice managed to surround her in water, causing the villain's powers to short-circuit. At the age of twenty-one, Sluice encountered a superbeing in a local café who claimed to be an athlete. The two quickly became involved in a relationship. This was in fact Midnight, who was on a mission to get close to Sluice and learn her secrets. Thanks to his psychic abilities she unquestioningly revealed details of her life she had strived to keep secret. She eventually learned of his true identity and confronted him at his home. Midnight treated the mission as a failure, and for an unknown reason did not reveal Sluice's identity. Sarah was heartbroken by the betrayal and disappeared from the superhero scene for several months. Later in the year she, Photon and five other heroes investigated a villain known as The Bat who was residing in Cheddar Gorge, although the five other heroes turned out to be his servants and battled the pair. At the age of twenty-two, she was invited by Lionheart to join the League of Salvation. Apocalypse Several months on, Sluice battled The Gardener, defeating him with the help of some last-minute intervention by Lionheart. They then embarked on what was to be her first mission with the League, travelling to a church in Cardiff to prevent the alien Apocalypse (then Apokálypsis) and its kind from invading Earth. X-Calibur, Wolfbite, Photon, Jetscream and Thompson were also present during this incident. Later in the year she and Lionheart also teamed up to battle and defeat The Ghost Train. By this point she was awed by Lionheart and developing a crush on him, though he was careful to kindly reject her advances. At one point she was summoned to Loch Ness, where the Loch Ness Monster was attacking tourist boats. She managed to use her powers to soothe the creature with gentle waves. It was agreed that safety measures would be set up so that future tourists did not bother the creature again. At the age of twenty-three, she investigated a mysterious craft that had crash-landed just outside of Bath. The craft turned out to be a Corruption Chamber, and she was attacked by five members of the Coalition. She was heavily overpowered and forced to run for help, an embarrassing memory for her. To Save the World! After a summons was issued by the League of Salvation for all available members to visit the League Headquarters, Sluice flew to America. However, on her way to New York she was attacked and captured by Professor Pyro, who took her to his laboratory where a subdued Blade-Angel had also been transported. They resisted before he could conduct experiments on them, and a large fire broke out in the ensuing battle. Plasmafire arrived to help turn the tables against Professor Pyro, and Sluice managed to knock him out before falling unconscious herself. She awoke to find herself in a small house in the middle of the Nevada desert. It transpired that she had been carried here to recover by Blade-Angel ,and it was where the avian hero and her husband, Mac, lived. As they were about to escort Sluice out of the desert they were attacked by some robotic birds. The three defeated the birds and decided to investigate where they had come from. After battling more robots they discovered the entrance to an underground base and infiltrated it, splitting into two groups (Sluice on her own, Blade-Angel and Mac together) to cover more ground. A robot disguised as a civilian caught Sluice off-guard and electrocuted her - it was only the sudden intervention of the psychic Silver that saved her life. The two carried on through the base, working their way through a maze of mirrors and eventually meeting up with Blade-Angel and Mac. The four were suddenly captured and brought to the owner of the base, Manchine. He planned to deliver them to Doctor Danger to be brainwashed into servants of the Coalition of Corruption, but they fought back and managed to defeat Manchine, believing him to be killed. In retaliation he set the base to self-destruct, prompting the heroes to make a hasty escape. Back in the desert, the group noticed a helicopter and a number of League members coming to meet them. Stella introduced herself, and explained that they had come to investigate the large amounts of Omega radiation in the area. Silver, Blade-Angel and Mac decided to go with Sluice to the League HQ, as they wished to join the League of Salvation. They made it to the HQ, although Sluice and Silver couldn't resist playing in the newly-fallen snow first. Sluice was asked to go with Silver to track a superbeing in Japan, and reluctantly accepted. Mirai's Seven In Kyoto they began searching for the superbeing. They tracked it to the Yomi House, only to run into Professor Pyro, Typhoon, Parasite and Whiplash with Pitor and Illyana Alexandr as prisoners. Sluice battled and defeated Whiplash, then moved into the main room where Silver was engaging the other villains. Yuriko Ling showed up and the twins began to utilise their powers too, and the battle quickly became chaos. More League members arrived and the Yomi house was burned down. As the other heroes took care of the situation, Sluice offered to take Yuriko, who had fallen unconscious, to a hospital. However, on the way she was abducted by Tómas and taken to meet Mirai's Seven at their Kyoto hideout. Elizabeth took Yuriko to a hospital as the others revealed that they had been watching Sluice from an early age. They told her of the future-seer, Mirai Suisei. However, before they could explain the important vision Mirai had experienced, Silver came bursting in to save Sluice. They learned that Yuriko had escaped from hospital and went looking for her, determined to find her before any villains did. Mirai's Seven decided not to approach her again just yet. Loadstone joined them, and they soon found Yuriko under attack by Animator. Together they defeated the villain and brought the girl back to the Yomi house, where the other heroes were still gathered. After communicating telepathically with Silver, the girl agreed to stay with the heroes. Sluice led them to the League jet she and Silver had 'parked' and the group of heroes set off, chasing the villains that had fled from the previous battle. They engaged in an aerial battle for a short while, but the villains managed to escape. However, Lionheart received a call from the League HQ that an enormous spike of Omega radiation had been detected in England. Worried, the heroes changed the course of their jet, arriving in London. Sluice was awed and horrified by the sight of Cosmic's makeshift solar system, which soon dragged the heroes into its orbit. With only minutes before the sheer heat vaporised them, Sluice poured all her will into creating a giant ice dagger and flinging it at the boy. As it shattered, the nearby Aquarius used the shards to freeze the boy solid, stunning him and causing the effects of his powers to cease. In the aftermath of the battle, Sluice and Silver were abducted by Tómas again. Exhausted, the heroes had no choice to listen to Mirai's Seven. The group detailed Mirai's vision of the future, and his prediction that by giving his sword, the Ikusakeme to the 'water goddess born at the cusp of the millennium' the future would be saved from destruction. They also requested that Silver remain with Sluice as a protector of sorts, as he had already displayed a degree of skill in that area. Reluctantly, Sluice and Silver agreed to honour their request, and were teleported by Elizabeth back to the group of heroes. Sluice informed Lionheart that she and Silver would be going to Bristol to check up on her parents. The Technax Armada As she and Silver travelled towards the Extinction Cannon, Sluice asked Silver to try and suppress her Abyss personality, afraid that it might interfere at a critical moment. Though hesitant, Silver obeyed her wishes. The pair carried on and reached the Extinction Cannon, though it was surrounded by numerous layers of shielding that needed to be deactivated. One shield was designed to only allow Crystaxians through. Silver made Sluice promise to return to the others when he asked, before passing through the barrier. A Hunter unit attacked, which she managed to summon the strength to defeat. Once the right shields were deactivated Silver was able to advance towards the crystal powering the Extinction Cannon, where he explained to the rest of the heroes via communicator that the crystal would only be vulnerable in the moment before firing, but that the backlash of power in its destruction would kill them if they remained close by. He told Sluice to leave and gave everyone one last speech of reassurance. Too exhausted to come up with anything significant, Sluice simply promised to see Silver later. As she made her way back to the other heroes Silver destroyed the crystal, triggering the start of a massive explosion. Sluice joined Loadstone just as dozens of Rollers appeared to give pursuit. Fighting their way through, they and the other heroes reached Esp in the nick of time. However, thousands of airborne units were activated and gave chase. The heroes did their best to slow the advancing fleet; Sluice creating a trail of mist to throw off their aim. A lance of energy from the expanding explosion crippled a Siege Tower that had been sent to block their escape, also sending countless shards of metal debris towards the unshielded Esp. With Isis' help Esp avoided these and exited the mothership, moments before it completely detonated. Before the blast could reach them the Royal Crystal glowed, and the entirely of the explosion vanished. Esp returned to Earth, crash-landing in a desert in Egypt.The biomonitor readings on her viewscreens revealed that everyone save Silver had survived the experience. Isis congratulated the group, explaining that she couldn't have told them any more in order to ensure that this, the best possible outcome, could have occurred. Fade and Loadstone reacted angrily to her apparent callousness, but Scorchmark shared Isis' views. Sluice was too tired and upset to get involved in the argument. Isis eventually teleported away, leaving the group with one more prophecy: "The past will return in the future, where the light will become the dark. The choice to bring back the light rests with you all." Epsilon explained that, according to Silver's wishes, she was now to fall into the service of Sluice. Shortly afterwards a number of League Jets arrived, and the heroes were taken home to rest and recover after their ordeals. The following weeks were a blur to Sarah. Though she did her part alongside other League members helping to undo the damage done during the invasion, the weight of the experience and the loss of Silver were too much for her to deal with, so she sought therapy. She contacted Dreamscape, and began attending regular sessions to help her work through her feelings of loss, as well as to deal with the Abyss personality. Exhausted from the day's events, Sluice returned with Silver to their flat where they promptly went to sleep. Between To Save the World and The World in Our Hands Much to her surprise and embarrassment, the next morning Sarah awoke to find an unknown, half-naked woman in the flat. She turned out to be Florarmour, whom Photon had started dating after the invasion. The World in Our Hands This character has not yet appeared in The World in Our Hands. Relationship with Other Characters Over the years Sluice has worked with many other superheroes. She is friendly and good-natured toward all she meets, however in her youth she had a shy, reserved nature that prevented her from becoming too close with others. Since the day they met Sluice has journeyed almost everywhere with Silver, and considers him her best friend. She is not currently aware that he has romantic feelings for her. Other than him she considers her only other close superhero friends to be Photon and Cannonball, although due to encountering and teaming up with him several times as of late, she is starting to consider Loadstone as a friend as well. Although she has gotten over her crush on him, she still looks up to Lionheart. She is intriuged by her half-brother, Walter Winters, and is eager to get to know him. She feels a connection with him by virtue of their shared blood. Though she dislikes most villains, Midnight is one of the few people she feels hatred towards as she considers his manipulation of her emotions a heartless crime. Abilities and Skills Originally Sarah could manipulate nearby H20, even if it had been mixed with another substance, and could cause it to freeze or evaporate. After the battle at Sujou plains, however, her powers developed to allow her to control hydrogen and oxygen separately. She is still training to grasp the full potential of this, although she has so far been able to produce Heavy Water, H20 with a larger Hydrogen-to-Oxygen particle ratio than usual; she can also create Hydronium, or H30, which is much more acidic than regular water. These combinations are slightly difficult for her to produce, however. She has been trained in hand-to-hand combat and is a capable kickboxer, but prefers to fight from a distance; her favourite and most oft-used technique is to create a group of ice daggers to fling at an opponent. They are, however, hollow, intended to simply shatter against an enemy and cause them pain. She considers her most powerful technique to be a maneuver in which she seizes control of all water particles in the immediate area and begins to swirl them around, faster and faster, creating a whirlpool with enough force to lift objects off the ground and, at its centre, tear things to shreds. Her current supersuit was created by Esp. It sports a pair of goggles that filter all light-based attacks, protecting Sluice from bright flashes, illusions and eye-based hypnosis. It also sports an inbuilt communicator and hidden back pocket. It is composed of special metallofibers, which makes it as tough as kevlar but far more flexible, and a better insulator of heat. It was designed to be easy for Esp to repair and upgrade. She is athletically fit and is an excellent swimmer. Category:League of Salvation Category:Kumata Nuva